New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Softer Dollar
November 28, 2011
The dollar gave back ground today, falling 2.3% against the Aussie dollar, 2.1% relative to the kiwi, 1.4% against the loonie, 1.0% each versus the euro and Swissie, and 0.8% against sterling. The yen is unchanged, and the yuan slid 0.1%. Stocks climbed 1.6% in Japan, 2.0% in Hong Kong, 1.9% in Australia and Singapore, […] More
Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Wake Up! …It’s Getting Very Late
November 27, 2011
A dramatic loss of investor appetite for risk occurred in each of the past two weeks. One sees this in equities, bond yields and currencies. The Dow Jones Industrials Average fell 2.9% and 4.8% in those sequential weeks. The Nikkei lost 1.6% in the week of November 18th followed by 2.6% last week, and the […] More
Larry's Blog
Might the Internet Bear Blame for the Struggles of Advanced Economies?
November 26, 2011
The Internet lies at the center of a revolution in applied technology unlike anything since the industrial revolution. Change is inevitable, but the Internet promotes a speed of change that can be breath-taking. From a macro-economic standpoint, the 21st century has also been a very difficult one for advanced economies where the Internet and the […] More
Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Next Week
November 26, 2011
Central Bank meetings will be held next week in Mexico, The Philippines, and Brazil. There is a meeting of EU finance ministers on Wednesday, and purchasing manager manufacturing survey results get released for the United States, Japan, New Zealand, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Russia, India, Brazil, Canada, Turkey, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Australia, […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
A Sense of No Hope for the Euro
November 25, 2011
Investors are betting that European and U.S. politicians have no more tricks up their sleeve. Fitch downgraded Portuguese debt, and Moody’s did the same for Hungarian debt. ECB officials aren’t budging on their insistence that fiscal policymakers, not they, must solve the euro crisis. Portuguese street protests against budget cuts persist. The euro lost another […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
A Further Liftoff in German Bund Yields
November 24, 2011
The 2.21% yield on ten-year German bund yields is 32 basis points higher than its level a week ago, underscoring widespread concern the the European Monetary System is headed for a break-up over the inability of politicians and bureaucrats to resolve the system’s immense dysfunctionality. The United States is observing Thanksgiving today, but in Europe […] More
Central Bank Watch
Unchanged Monetary Policy in Turkey at This Month’s Meeting
November 23, 2011
Officials at the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey retained a 5.75% one-week repo rate. That key benchmark of monetary policy was reduced by 1,175 basis points in the year between November 2008 and November 2009. Subsequent cuts were implemented of 50 basis points in December 2010, 25 bps in January 2011, and 50 […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Another Tough Day in the Marketplace
November 23, 2011
German bund yields shot up 14 basis points following a technically undersubscribed auction. A result of such was to reduce peripheral bond spreads, but their long-term interest rate levels in these countries remain way too high. The Bank of Greece warned of the risk of Greece leaving the European Economic and Monetary Union. China’s preliminary […] More
Deeper Analysis
Revised U.S. GDP Reveals New Troubles
November 22, 2011
Real GDP growth last quarter was revised unexpectedly downward to an annualized rate of 2.0%. As a consequence, GDP expanded only 1.5% over the latest reported four quarters, and at an even slower pace (1.2%) during the first three quarters of 2011. 3Q11 was the ninth quarter of the post-Great Recession recovery. In that span, […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Fragile yet Better Tone in Market
November 22, 2011
Stocks in Europe have firmed 0.8% in Germany, 0.6% in France, and 0.4% in Great Britain. The dollar, which does best under conditions of high risk aversion, settled back 0.5% against the Swiss franc, 0.4% versus the euro and Aussie dollar, 0.3% relative to the kiwi, 0.2% against the loonie and sterling, and 0.1% versus […] More
